Asian hornets are at "the gates of Paris" as the dangerous, bee-killing invaders sweep through France towards Britain, experts have warned.

The death of a man stung this week by several of the black and yellow-striped Chinese interlopers has exacerbated fears of attacks in the French capital, home to 300 beehives – the hornets' principle source of food.

News of the insect's rapid advance north came as France officially declared the pest a "harmful and invasive exotic species" – a move that could lead to a nationwide bid to eradicate the invader.

The species Vespa velutina is thought to have arrived in southwestern France from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in late 2004.

Unmistakable due to their dark hue and yellow feet, the hornets quickly spread to surrounding areas along waterways, thriving due to a total lack of indigenous predators.

They have now colonised 39 of France's 100 departments, with a nest discovered last month in Jouy-en-Josas, just south of Versailles and only 10 miles from Paris' city centre.

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With their arrival now imminent, the Paris town hall is launching a campaign to trap the pests.

Asian hornets

Beekeepers at the Jardin du Luxembourg and on the roofs of the Opera Garnier and other landmarks are at the ready with traps and may even employ human hornet sentries to ward off attacks.

The predators hover over hives and pluck honeybees in mid-air, ripping out their juicy thoraxes. A handful can destroy a beehive within hours.

Unlike in Asia, where honeybees form a ball of workers around the intruder and kill it by heatstroke, French bees have yet to come up with a defence strategy.

On Monday, a 54-year old married father of three died in Coron, a village near the Loire wine-growing village of Saumur, died after disturbing a nest while cutting his hedge.

Fabienne Giboudeaux, deputy Paris mayor in charge of green areas and biodiversity warned against hysteria. "While the hornet is dangerous, one sting is not deadly for a human. But we need to be prepared and be able to locate the nests and think about prevention", she told Le Parisien.

Franck Muller of the Museum of National History in Paris recently predicted that the hornet could cross into Britain by 2014.

"We have modelled its potential spread by cross-checking data from France and Asia, and concluded it is capable of living anywhere in Europe and certainly in Britain," said Mr Muller.